The following article taken from the book titled "McNairy County History of Tennessee" published in 1887 by The Goodspeed Publishing Co. of Chicago and Nashville; "William Swain of Irish descent, born in South Carolina in 1783; when about thirteen years of age he went to Georgia, where he married at the age of 26. He moved to Lincoln County in 1812, and in 1828 to Henderson, Chester Co., TN, and remained there until 1840, when he settled in McNairy County, resuming his farming and so continuing up to a year previous to his death , which occurred in 1871.

Rebecca Williamson Swain was born in Georgia about 1788; she died in 1861; she and her husband were both faithful members of the Primitive Baptist Church.